All of a sudden, England have a sniff of a chance. Pick up the last two wickets cheaply and there's a game on. I have a feeling that even chasing 200 will be a tall order mind.
Cricket
- Thread starter summerisle
- Start date
Despite being in a tough position thats a pretty good day for England, pope and buttler fought hard with the bat and all the bowlers were on point and made it hard for Pakistan. Can't afford to let the tail wag tomorrow if they want any hope
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
Two badly needed additions.
Blue Shoes
Player Valuation: £10m
England always find a way to get back into games.
Chris O'Connor
Player Valuation: £35m
Yes Broad is finding some confidence and I said a 10 or 11, he's certainly a useful 10 and to my mind better than Archer at 9. Although Archer was far better than he has been of late.
Broad, Woakes and that man again Stokes were excellent in that last session and Root captained well. Even Bess was impressive although I thought him unlucky in the first innings too. How they've missed Stokes.
I think 260 would be extremely hard to get but two early wickets and 250 they may just have a sniff. That bowling attack and our weak batting lineup with huge tail says we're still very much second favourites but not completely out of it any longer. Move Broad up the order, even ahead of Bess but definitely Archer would be the way to go for me.
Next time rest Anderson and bring in Wood for Archer, Curran may also be in contention for Woakes although Woakes bowling has been excellent on the whole.
gonetomorrow
Player Valuation: £80m
Time was when you wouldn't have given them a chance. They seem to be very resilient these days.
They got a handful of match winning players, there have been some great games recently
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
A great listen.
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No issues with the rest and rotation (and makes sense) but I wouldn't play Bess currently. Hes had an awful game, and if England dont win this for me it will be squarely on his head.
I dont think Archer/Broad are brilliant 9 or 10s but they are handy enough. The same as Wood. It's the least of Englands problems though. I don't fancy the openers at all.
Chris O'Connor
Player Valuation: £35m
I wouldn't fancy any openers in the world in these conditions against the new ball with this attack but our openers aren't even on the problem radar for me, doing well but are huge lbw candidates against this top quality attack. Helpful conditions, the new ball and top level seamers, they're a cut above anything we've faced this summer, this attack is as good as it gets in these conditions. Facing the new ball is hugely different from later, that's the red zone when wickets fall.
I think we can separate Broad's recent batting from that of Archer or Anderson, I do think he has his confidence back and he's better just going for it than defending. He's still a ten but in our weak line up probably at least 9th best.
I think Bess is still work in progress but think has bowled well at times this match, he was unfortunate first time round but was impressive after tea tonight. I don't agree one bit really on Bess costing us the game, not at all in fact. Buttler missed San twice on 45 off Bess, he made 156 ,- to then put it on Bess is perverse imo, They're the most costly incidents and where it was lost, not boundaries afterwards.
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flibbyflob
Player Valuation: £40m
He had about 4 chances missed by butterfingers Buttler though.
Cool_Blue
Player Valuation: £35m
It’s many a year since I’ve witnessed such an inept wicket keeping performance at Test level. It’s a big gamble to pick someone because they are a decent middle order batsman but ordinary keeper. I’d give Foakes a game, Buttlers’s confidence with the gloves looks shot.
Bess isn't good enough at the moment for test cricket. Sooner have Curran in for a bit of variation.